4 Charged in Yahoo Data Breach

Mar 15, 2017

An AP source has revealed that four people, including two officers of Russian security services, have been charged by the U.S. in the massive data breach that disrupted Yahoo and left millions vulnerable.

Two of the defendants are Russian FSB officers and the other two are criminal hackers. One of the defendants has been taken into custody in Canada.

U.S. officials told the media that they were planning to unveil the charges related to the theft of personal data that affected hundreds of millions of Yahoo users and disrupted the company’s sale to Verizon. Many speculated that some of the alleged hackers could have ties to Russian government.

In September of 2016, Yahoo reveals hackers had penetrated its network in late 2014 and stole person data from more than 500 million users. The company concluded that it had been breached by a “state-sponsored actor.”

The 2014 incident was separate from another, much larger theft, affecting more than a billion accounts. Yahoo disclosed that breach in December and said it dated back to 2013.

It is unclear if the defendants are being charged in both incidents as of now.